Talk of Sprint's upcoming LTE network has been on the rise over the last several weeks, with Dan Hesse himself announcing the first four cities (Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio) to gain the ultra-fast network, and Kansas and Baltimore being added to the list shortly after.

We're now hearing word that the San Francisco Bay Area is likely to gain Sprint LTE before the end of 2012, with construction of the network already underway. The Bay area rollout will cover nearly 900 sites and take approximately six months to complete, putting the estimated launch date for the finished product sometimes in October or November.

Fortunately, The Now Network should be turning on each site as it's completed, so users who upgrade to an LTE device before the rollout is finished should be able to begin reaping its benefits little by little as construction progresses.

It's worth mentioning that, while the information appears to be accurate, this one is still floating around in the "rumor" pool, and should be treated as such until Sprint makes the official announcement itself.

Comments

Oh, and the source used has been reliable in the past - we have no reason to believe they're wrong on this one.

Joe C

Well all you people in SF sure are lucky...but when you get news that St Louis, MO is getting LTE I'll really get excited. Until then...I hate u guys! lol

Rob

So are the LTE devices such as the GNexus completely useless without LTE available? In other words... Will the Sprint GNexus have a CDMA radio as well or is all data/voice strictly going over LTE? I ask this because the GNexus will be available long before LTE is available in my area (between Boston, MA and Providence, RI).

squiddy20

It'd be crazy for Sprint to release the Galaxy Nexus without 3G radios at least, especially considering they're still sorta rolling out 3G coverage. I'd imagine most phones released this year will have 1x, 3G and LTE radios, if only because I STILL hit plenty of areas where my Moment drops down to 1x, and I'm only about 20 miles from DC...

Of course it'll have CDMA too. LTE-only devices will not be released for many years, not until LTE coverage is much more solid than 3G now. Just like phones now are getting shipped with EDGE/1x support to fall back to.

Adam

Still waiting for 4g in michigan. was told by several workers of sprint that it would be here in my area by september, 2011! still not here and now there installing in other areas. BULLSHIT

easy9

how many miles will LTE travel,, I live in stockton about 60 miles from the bay?

Calvin

The only thing I want is for sprint and Samsung to come out with a epic 4g touch LTE because I I'm one of the few ppl that don't like the galaxy nexus, I like android 4.0 just not the phone its on.
Right now I have the EpTouch and I'm happy with it my 4g gets 4~7 bits but I would love LTE on this phone.

JaswinderSinghJammu

I live in San Jose and I have always preferrred Sprint over Verizon but I would not buy a Sprint LTE phone unless I can use it either at home in Santa Clara or my work on the east side San Jose...I hate ATT the most but I would rather buy an ATT LTE phone since it's already here. I have VMO now for about a yr now. love paying $40 per month for the $45 plan...